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astronautix.com Lovell


James Arthur (Jim) Lovell Jr Status: Inactive. Trained as: Astronaut. Profession: Pilot. Sex: Male. Marital Status: Married. Children: Four. Birth Date: 25 March 1928. Birth City: Cleveland. Birth State: Ohio. Birth Country: USA. Nationality: American. Group: 1962 NASA Group. Date Selected: 17 September 1962. Departed: 1973. Number of Flights: 4. Total Time: 29.80 days.

NAME: James A. Lovell

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Lovell was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 25, 1928.

EDUCATION: Attended the University of Wisconsin. Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1952. Completed Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1971.

Lovell attended the Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland., and spent four years at the center as a test pilot, serving as program manager for the F4H Phantom Fighter. He graduated from the Aviation Safety School of the University of Southern California and was assigned as safety engineer with Fighter Squadron 101 at the Naval Air Station, Oceana, Virginia.

NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1962. On Dec. 4, 1965, he and Frank Borman began a record 14-day space flight in Gemini 7. During the flight, Gemini 6 astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford were launched and executed the first rendezvous in space of two manned spacecraft, with the two ships manoeuvring to within a metre of each other. In November 1966 Lovell commanded the final Gemini flight, Gemini 12, with pilot Buzz Aldrin. This flight capped the Gemini project with flawless dockings with the Agena target vehicle and space walks by Aldrin.

Lovell returned to space with Frank Borman and Bill Anders aboard Apollo 8. A last minute decision was made to send Apollo 8, only the second manned Apollo flight, into lunar orbit in order to beat the Russians. On December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 crew became the first humans to reach escape velocity as their Saturn V put them on a trans-lunar trajectory. Early on Christmas Eve, the Apollo 8 command-service module braked into lunar orbit. In an unforgettable Christmas message to the world, Borman, Lovell and Anders read the story of creation from the first ten verses of the Bible's Book of Genesis, while sending a vivid televised image of the stark lunar surface rolling by below. On Christmas Day, Apollo 8's engines pushed the crew out of lunar orbit and back toward Earth to a landing in the Pacific Ocean.

Lovell was given command of his own lunar landing mission on Apollo 13 with Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise and Command Module pilot Jack Swigert. Lovell and Haise were to have explored the moon's Fra Mauro highlands in April 1970, but en route, an oxygen tank in the Service Module exploded, resulting in loss of all Command Module oxygen and electric power. The crew used their still-attached Lunar Module as a lifeboat. Together with ground controllers, they made several manual manoeuvres using the Lunar Module engine and made it safely back to Earth after a harrowing trip.

Lovell retired from the Navy in 1973 with the rank of captain and entered the business world. He was later President of his own company, Lovell Communications.

Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger wrote of the Apollo 13 mission in "Lost Moon", published in 1994. The book was the basis of the 1995 movie, "Apollo 13", with Tom Hanks playing Lovell, and Lovell himself in a cameo performance as the commander of the recovery carrier.


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Last update 3 May 2001.
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